Complaints Made About Strong Odor at Wehrle Ct.

Recent complaints made about a strong, pungent odor wafting down Wehrle Court near a major construction site have subsided, but concerns continue over it returning.

A number of residents in that area contacted the Beachcomber about the strong smell coming from the Fountain Street and Wehrle Court Family Housing Construction project – from the 4220 Wehrle Court site to Ximeno Ave. That changed sometime around the start of the week of Monday, May 6, with conditions returning to normal.

Linc Housing, which is managing the construction project, was contacted about the odor and the overall status of the project. Holly Ferris, the media contact for the firm, said that project workers discovered a portable toilet being used nearby at a single-family dwelling that may have been a source of the strong odor. That portable toilet was removed from that location before May 6. The construction workers haven’t had any complaints about the smell since then, and Linc Housing hasn’t been contacted about it, either.

Ferris said that the construction project is moving ahead, and it is expected to be completed and ready for new residents by late 2027 or early 2028. That work includes demolition of a building at 4209 Anaheim St., which is bringing ingress to residents of the new housing complex out onto Anaheim St.

The Fountain Street & Wehrle Court Family Housing Construction project is a 73-unit affordable apartment construction project for lower-income residents that will be built on about 1.73 acres of land.

Lawsuit Settlement Spurred Access to Anaheim

A lawsuit filed in May 2024 by Bryant homeowners against the City of Long Beach was settled out of court by the three parties in the suit – Bryant Neighbors for Responsible Development, the city, and Long Beach-based Linc Community Development Corp. (Linc Housing). Local residents and parents and staff at Bryant Elementary School had been very concerned about the new housing project being on narrow streets with little available parking – and with very limited access for vehicles coming to and from the neighborhood.

A solution to this limited throughput reached agreement and approval by the city. That settlement added the additional parcel of land fronting on 4209 E. Anaheim St., which will now provide ingress and egress to those who will be living in the new housing complex to leave or enter their neighborhood. That is expected to help keep Fountain, Wehrle, and other nearby streets, from being jammed during certain heavy traffic time periods.

One of the issues in the litigation was concern over what had been buried there years earlier, and whether soil remediation should be done. One of these concerns was about a medical waste incinerator that may have been on that property several years ago. It could require public records requests being filed with the city and Los Angeles County to see if any filed documents would address these issues.

Concerns have also been raised about the 114 trees that were taken out at the beginning of this construction project.

Ferris said that, according to her sources at Linc Housing, there were no soil issues at all in the development project. Linc also says that it’s replacing the non-native, non-drought tolerant, diseased trees with native, drought-tolerant trees that will provide more tree canopy than before.

Reyes Construction, which is working on the Fountain Street & Wehrle Court project with Linc Housing, has previously had complaints from its workers on the Colorado Lagoon Open Channel Project about hazardous materials – asbestos – found in the excavation.

The Colorado Lagoon Project Team has not received any odor‑related complaints associated with the Linc housing project, nor is the project team aware of any odor-related complaints stemming from the current Colorado Lagoon project activities. All asbestos encountered on the Colorado Lagoon Open Channel Project has been managed in accordance with the project’s approved procedures and all applicable regulatory requirements, wrote Jocelin Padilla-Razo, community information officer for the City of Long Beach, in an email response.

For anyone concerned about bad air odors or potential health hazards from any of the construction sites in Long Beach, they can be reported to the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) at 1-800-CUT-SMOG, or via their online complaint system. Locally, the Long Beach Environmental Health Bureau manages air quality complaints and community nuisances and can be reached at (562) 570-4132.

Jon LeSage is a resident of Long Beach and a veteran business media reporter and editor. You can reach him at jtlesage1@yahoo.com.